0 – Pay & Pension Caps

Guess how much the head of the New York Public Library makes. I ask people this and they shoot off guesses they think are high. $150K? Nope. A quarter-million? Still low. Okay, okay, $500 thousand. Not there yet.

He made $688K in 2008. That’s down from when he made $800K in 2005. If you’re wondering why your taxes are so high, and why New York traffic court fines are so outrageous, it’s partly because we pay all these ridiculous salaries.

The SUNY Albany President was reported to be making $280K, plus a $261K pension, and a $100K consulting job with his old state job. Read about it in the Times Union.

They’re not alone. 110,000 bureaucrats in New York State make over $100,000 a year. Their high-flying pensions are becoming a huge problem. Read more at Pension Tsunami: New York.

Career politicians are proposing across the board pay freezes, soda taxes, cutting teachers, and closing parks. We can save more money for both the state and for local governments by bringing these high-flying salaries and pensions back down to earth.

Warren supports a cap on bureaucrat pay at $100,000 per year, and a pension cap of $75,000.

Critics of this idea say that these jobs are too important and that you won’t be able to find quality people at $100K. They’re not living in the real world. There are plenty of highly qualified people in NY who make less than $100K. Public service is supposed to be about public service, not about getting rich.

The head of the Albany Parking Authority makes $130K. To run parking lots? We can find someone to do that for $100K – or less.